1. KAUTIR (Kerala Agricultural University Theses Information and Retrieval)

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Curcuma longa L

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    Growth responses in Curcuma longa L. to application of chitin and chitosan
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2023-05-06) Karthika Thankachan
    The present study entitled “Growth responses in Curcuma longa L. to application of chitin and chitosan” was conducted at the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram during 2020-2023 with the objective to evaluate plant growth, yield and curcumin content of Curcuma longa L. in response to soil application of biopolymers, chitin and its deacetylated derivative, chitosan. The planting material of turmeric variety Sona for the study was procured from College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara. The rhizomes were cut into small bits of 8-10g, each consisting of two buds and were sown in protrays. After 30 days, the plantlets were transplanted to growbags. Chitin was applied to potting media and chitosan solution was applied as soil drenching (SD) at varying concentrations and frequencies viz., at transplanting (0 MAT) and 60 days after transplanting (2 MAT), to study the growth responses in C. longa. A foliar spray (FS) with chitosan @ 0.1% at monthly intervals was given as positive control. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with ten treatments and three replications. The treatment consisted of chitin 10 g per plant applied at 0 MAT (T1), chitin 10 g per plant applied at 0 MAT and 2 MAT (T2), chitin 15 g per plant applied at 0 MAT (T3), chitin 15 g per plant applied at 0 MAT and 2 MAT (T4), chitosan 0.2 % SD at 0 MAT (T5), chitosan 0.2 % SD at 0 MAT and 2 MAT (T6), chitosan 0.6 % SD at 0 MAT (T7), chitosan 0.6 % SD at 0 MAT and 2 MAT (T8), chitosan 0.10% FS at monthly intervals (T9) and absolute control without chitin or chitosan (T10). The observations on plant growth parameters viz., plant height, number of leaves, number of tillers and leaf area were recorded at monthly intervals from 0 to 6 MAT. These parameters showed significant variation among the treatments. At 6 MAT, T9 recorded maximum plant height (116.76 cm) which was observed to be on par with T3. The number of leaves (24.95) and leaf area (896.27 cm 2 ) were also observed to be maximum in T9 which was on par with T3 and T4. T9 reported maximum number of tillers (6.83) also. The data on rhizome and root parameters were recorded at harvest. The rhizome spread (25.48 cm) and thickness (3.79 cm) were found to be maximum in T9 and was on par with T2, T3 and T4. The application of chitin and chitosan did not influence root length and root spread of turmeric rhizome. The root weight was found highest in T9 (fresh - 29.58 g plant-1 and dry – 13.66 g plant-1 ), which was on par with T1, T2, T3 and T4. The effect of chitin and chitosan application on chlorophyll content and defense enzymes (peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase) were recorded at 4 and 6 MAT. T9 exhibited higher leaf chlorophyll, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase content at both the stages. The quality parameters viz., carbohydrate, volatile oil, oleoresin, curcumin content of turmeric rhizome were found to be significantly influenced by the application of chitin and chitosan. The carbohydrate content was also observed to be higher in T9 (14.49 mg g-1 ) and was on par with T3 and T4. T9 reported the highest volatile oil (5.13 %), oleoresin (13.30 %) and curcumin (8.06 %) content, which was found to be on par with T1, T2, T3 and T4. The population of beneficial microorganisms present in the plant root zone was significantly influenced by the application of chitin and chitosan. T4 recorded the highest nitrogen fixing bacterial count (72.20 x 103 cfu g-1 soil). The largest population of phosphate solubilizers (7.10 x 103 cfu g-1 soil) was also recorded in T4, which was on par with T3 and T8. The chitin and chitosan treatments significantly influenced the yield parameters of turmeric. The number, length, girth and weight of mother, primary and secondary rhizomes were found to be highest in T9. The number of fingers were found to be the highest in T3 (32.27) which was on par with T9 (31.40). T9 recorded significantly higher fresh (504.93 g plant-1 ) and dry (137.23 g plant-1 ) rhizome yield. Total dry matter content (191.27 g plant-1 ) was found to be the highest in T9. This value was on par with T3. The uptake of N and P was found to be significantly higher in T3 and T9. There was no significant variation among the treatments in the uptake of K. The harvest index of turmeric plants showed significant variation among the treatments. The harvest index was reported to be the highest in T9. Among the various treatments tried, significantly higher benefit cost ratio (1.88) was observed with T9. In the study, among the treatments involving foliar and soil application of chitin and chitosan, the foliar spray of 0.1% chitosan at monthly intervals exhibited the best results in terms of growth, metabolite production, yield and benefit cost ratio. On comparing the soil application of chitin and chitosan, chitin 15 g per plant applied at transplanting showed better performance with respect to growth, metabolite production and yield. This treatment (T3), though followed chitosan foliar spray with respect to yield, was observed to be on par with respect to quality parameters. All the treatments involving chitin application gave better performance in terms of yield and quality (volatile oil, oleoresin and curcumin content) over the control and in comparison to the soil application of chitosan. Based on the observations of the present
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    Micrometeorological modification with mulches to enhance the yield of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)
    (Department of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Agriculture,Vellanikkara, 2021) Abin Divakaran, A; Lincy Davis, P
    Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is one of the most important rhizomatous spices, belonging to Zingiberacea. It is an annual herbaceous plant native to tropical SouthEast Asia. Turmeric has high medicinal properties and it is wildly used in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. Due to the high value of the crop, it is getting good demand all over the world. India is one of the largest producer and consumer of turmeric around the world. In India turmeric is mainly planted in the hot summer months and grown as a rainfed crop, but due to the drastic changes in the agroclimatic conditions its production is influenced detrimentally. Mulching is an important cultural practice in turmeric, which helps to maintain an optimum microclimatic condition, reduce weed growth, add organic matter and conserve moisture throughout the high evaporative periods. Due to these changing climatic conditions assessment of an effective date of planting and finding a most suitable mulching practice are required for the effective production of turmeric. Hence, the goal of this study is to determine how planting dates and micrometeorological modifications with mulches affect turmeric yield. Turmeric variety Kanthi was raised in Plantation Crops and Spices farm, College of Agriculture, KAU, Vellanikkara with four different dates of planting (1st May, 15th May, 1 st June and 15th June) and four different mulching treatments (white polythene mulch, black polythene mulch, paddy straw mulch and green leaf mulch). The experiment was laid out in split plot design with four dates of planting as main plot treatments and four mulching practices as subplot treatments. Crop weather analysis was done by using SPSS software and crop yield prediction model was developed with the help of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and regression analysis. The total crop period was divided into four phenophases (P1-planting to germination, P2-germination to initiation of active tillering, P3-initiation of active tillering to bulking, P4- bulking to physiological maturity). The days to reach each phenophases were different in every date of planting. May 1st planting took more days to reach 100 per cent germination and to reach physiological maturity both 1st and 2nd dates of plantings took more time. The plant biometric characters like plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, number of tillers and dry matter accumulation were found to be more in earlier dates of planting (May 1st and May 15th) in almost all the time. In mulching practices paddy straw mulch was superior and it was followed by green leaf mulch. The yield produced by May 1st and May 15th dates of planting were on par and in case of mulching treatments paddy straw mulch produced superior yield than any other mulching practice. In mulching treatments polythene mulches recorded more soil temperature and moisture content than organic mulches in almost all the time. The first phenophase of 1st date of planting recorded high maximum, minimum and soil temperature along with less rain fall and rainy days. This might have influenced the late emergence of turmeric. The increase in maximum temperature, wind speed, sunshine hours and evaporation reduced the plant height in third phenophase. Soil moisture content and relative humidity inside the plant canopy showed a positive correlation with yield, whereas soil temperature showed a negative correlation with yield during the bulking stage of turmeric. The decrease in maximum temperature, bright sunshine hours, wind speed and evaporation and the increase in the minimum temperature, forenoon and afternoon relative humidity and rainfall during bulking stage enhanced the yield in turmeric. The development of yield prediction model with principal component analysis of mulching treatments and dates of planting of four phenophases were done and the yields of turmeric crop with these equations were predicted. This showed that, the predicted yield was in accordance with the observed yield in all mulching treatments.